While Planet Gore now has the market cornered on entertaining global warming disinformation, Michael Crichton perfected it. For those last two or three people who still think the technothriller writer has his facts straight, check out reasic’s terrific post on Crichton’s inane 2003 talk, “Aliens Cause Global Warming.”

Yes, Crichton, a real medical doctor, actually said:

Nobody believes a weather prediction twelve hours ahead. Now we’re asked to believe a prediction that goes out 100 years into the future? And make financial investments based on that prediction? Has everybody lost their minds?

Wow! Not knowing the difference between weather and climate is like not knowing the difference between a general practitioner and an epidemiologist. I don’t know what’s worse — the possibility Crichton is just spouting standard Denyer crap he knows is crap or the possibility he actually believes what he is saying.

Kudos to “A Few Things Ill Considered,” for pointing this post out.

A stunning new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) finds the growth rate of CO₂ emissions has tripled in recent years:

CO₂ emissions from fossil-fuel burning and industrial processes have been accelerating at a global scale, with their growth rate increasing from 1.1%/year for 1990-1999 to >3%/year for 2000-2004. The emissions growth rate since 2000 was greater than for the most fossil-fuel intensive of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emissions scenarios developed in the late 1990s.

That’s right. CO₂ emissions are rising faster than in the most pessimistic U.N. scenario. So much for all those ostriches and Global Warming Delayers who say that economic growth is the key to solving global warming or that the U.N. scenarios are too extreme.

The study finds “Global emissions growth since 2000 was driven by a cessation or reversal of earlier declining trends in the energy intensity of gross domestic product (energy/GDP) and the carbon intensity of energy (emissions/energy), coupled with continuing increases in population and per-capita GDP.” Sadly, “No region is decarbonizing its energy supply.” In short, coal remains king.

The study also makes an important point about equity in global climate negotiations:

Read more

Scientists concerned about effects of global warming on infectious diseases – American Society for Microbiology. Quotable Quote: “Environmental changes have always been associated with the appearance of new diseases or the arrival of old diseases in new places. With more changes, we can expect more surprises.”

Dingell: Climate Change Bill Will Pass – Forbes.com. Legislation to fight global warming is on its way by year’s end!

Smithsonian Accused of Altering Exhibit – ABSNews.com. Why is this not surprising?